The Slayer Bride
by IHaveAGaurdianVampire
Summary: A Buffyverse version of one of the greatest movies/books of all time 'The Princess Bride'. Mid s4. AU a little. SPUFFY.
1. 1 What's your Kryptonite?

'**The Slayer Bride'**

**Disclaimer: I don't own BtVS or the Princess Bride (TPB), but maybe if I close my eyes, click my heels three times and spin around I will!**

_AN: this is my Buffyverse version of my favorite movie and one of my favorite books 'The Princess Bride'. The pairings will be Spuffy with a bit of Buffy/Riley, I know it's horrible, but everyone knows Buttercup didn't really love Prince Humperdinck anyway. Spike and Westley are two of my favorite male characters ever, so that is what inspired this story. Set mid season 4. AU a little bit. Spike was never with Harmony._

_This intro is based on the intro of TPB which talks about Buttercup rising through the ranks of the most beautiful women in the world, so this is my slayer-y version. I'm basing this on the book not the movie version even though they are very similar. Sorry I prattled on so much, enjoy._

**Chapter 1- What's your Kryptonite?**

The year Buffy Summers was born, the most powerful girl in the world was a French slayer named Annette. She was a seemingly flawless slayer, possessing both refined and innovative fighting skills and a brilliant intellect as well as a great passion for serving the greater good. She worked mainly at the hell mouth in Paris where her main nemesis was a master vampire known as 'The Duke', whom the Watcher's Council was sure she'd soon turn to dust some way or another. Scared for his un-life, The Duke set about studying Annette and shortly found his adversary's one and only tragic vice.

Chocolate.

So, one heart-shaped, poisoned box of chocolates from a 'secret admirer' later and there was one very dead slayer.

The year Buffy turned ten; the most powerful young woman in the world lived in Bengal, the daughter of a successful tea merchant. She lived to slay an insurmountable number of deadly night things before a smallpox epidemic broke out in her village when she was 19. The demon population survived, the girl did not.

When Buffy was fifteen, Adela Terrell, of Sussex was 'the chosen one', and easily the most powerful girl in the world. Adela was twenty and so far did she outdistance her predecessors that the Watcher's council was certain that she would be aorund to slay for many years to come.

Gosh, those guys got things wrong a lot, didn't they?

Adela was a killing machine, but also very vain. One fateful night she was hunting a master vampire in an abandoned castle when she found herself in the castle's hall of mirrors. She was so entranced by her own reflection that she didn't notice the very non-reflective vampire creeping up behind her until nanoseconds before he snapped her neck. She lived fast, and died young and beautiful.

Buffy, of course, at fifteen, knew none of this. And if you had told her she would have thought you were one Crayola Crayon short of the box. For starters, _vampires weren't real_, and why would a teen girl care about whether she was the stealthiest or the strongest or the bravest girl in the world when she had her Homecoming Queen campaign to plan? What difference would it make if you were only the third most powerful? Or the sixth?

Buffy at this time was nowhere near that high, being barely in the top twenty most powerful girls, and that was primarily based on potential, certainly not on any particular training she had done. She hated getting all sweaty and she had only become a cheerleader in order to climb the social ladder, not to build slaying muscles. Her priorities were her friends, her reputation and her shopping; but all that was about to change…

* * *

Buffy sighed as she remembered that naïve fifteen year old girl, it had been four years since she had been called, but it seemed like an eternity. She had changed a lot, and learned a lot in her short time as 'The Slayer'. For instance she had learnt that being the 'chosen one', the most powerful girl in the world didn't make you invulnerable. It still hurt as much emotionally when a friend was hurt or worse…or when she was ridiculed. Being the strongest hadn't made her life easier, it had made it more rewarding at times, but also more demanding and difficult and sometimes almost too hard to bear.

What made Buffy's life easier was her (on the most part) loyal Scooby Gang, her support group that was there for her in the face of apocalypse time and time again. She was thankful that she wasn't alone, like almost every other slayer had been. She couldn't imagine how lonely they must have been carrying that burden by themselves.

She quickly counted her blessings in the shape of her friends and allies. Giles, her second father, who was never afraid to take a more hands on approach than being a watcher detailed, and who stayed with her even after he was fired and told to leave. Willow and Xander, her best friends in the world with Anya the comically abrupt ex-demon in tow, a welcome addition to the team.

And then there was Spike.

Buffy was starting to feel like she could kinda, sort of count him as an ally, even if he said he was only helping because killing things made him feel all manly. She thought there was more to it than that, hoped there was more to it than that. She thought he was starting to like her.

_Bad Buffy,_ she scolded herself, _He is an evil soulless monster and you shouldn't care how he feels about you!_

But she had to admit that she did. Ever since Willow did her stupid I-will-it-so spell and made them think they were engaged she'd seen him in a whole new light. Willow had made them engaged but it was their own messed up brains that had come up with the idea that they would have to be in love as well, and the sweet way in which Spike had treated her had awoken in her a desire for an uplifting love, a love that made you happy, carefree and affectionate; something she'd never really had with Angel.

That, and she couldn't stop thinking about the way he had kissed her. _Damn it, why did he have to be such a good kisser?_ She wanted to do it again but she felt stupid for feeling that way. Her friends would never understand and besides, he'd _never_ feel the same way about her, she was his mortal enemy. He'd probably laugh in her face if she told him she was having warm and fuzzy feelings for the 'Big bad'. She didn't really like him that much anyway, she told herself.

_Stupid neutered vampire, toying with my emotions, breaking up my relationships. _

She had told Riley that she was engaged whilst under the spell, and even though she'd explained the best she could afterwards, it had created a rift between them, and the fact that he was secretly one of the commandoes who chipped Spike had only pushed them further apart. With the feelings she tried to deny having for the aforementioned vampire, she didn't think their relationship would ever be restored. Buffy was starting to think that Spike might be her Kryptonite.

Buffy had gone out on patrol to try and distract herself from her thoughts and bad lusty feelings, but so far the night had been painfully demon-free so she had got with the thoughtfulness. It was at that moment that a familiar voice pulled her from her ponderings…

"Buffy? Hi!" Buffy turned to find her ex-classmate Harmony Kendall in the alley behind her, looking the same as ever, except perhaps a bit paler, but it could have been the lights.

"Harmony, hi." she replied, quickly stowing her stake in her jacket pocket, "I haven't seen you since—"

"Since Graduation," Harmony nodded, "Big snake huh?"

"Yeah. So, how was your summer vacation?"

"Well I was gonna go to France, but I didn't. I was dying to see the stores."

"Yeah, and the museums." Buffy had always wanted to go to the Louvre.

"Museums?" Harmony looked confused. Right, she probably wasn't into that kinda thing.

"Yeah, I heard they have them." Buffy supplied with a feigned roll of the eyes.

Harmony laughed, "You always were so funny, Buffy. You haven't changed at all!"

"No, you neither."

She chuckled darkly, "Oh, maybe a little."

That was all the warning Buffy had before her former classmate vamped out and grabbed Buffy, beginning to feed before she could retrieve her stake from her jacket.

Buffy was beginning to lose consciousness when Harmony was violently tossed aside, causing the Slayer to collapse on the ground. Two firm hands grasped her waist and helped her right herself, it took her a minute to realize that her savior was the man she had been preoccupied with only moments ago; it was Spike! She looked at him in surprise as he turned to face Harmony, he must have followed her for some reason, but she was glad he had.

Harmony gave an uncharacteristic snicker. Buffy was still unable to stand on her own, so Spike couldn't attack her. Harmony ran her gaze over the other vampire, clearly checking him out. Buffy couldn't help but glare at her.

"Well hello Mr. Blonde, Gorgeous and Dead," the female vampire purred seductively, "How 'bout I show you how to really go bump in the night."

"Maybe some other time, pet." Spike said sarcastically.

"Fine. You don't know what you're missing." Harmony snapped before making a hasty exit.

Spike turned back to Buffy, looking for all the world like he was actually concerned for her well being. "You alright, luv?" he asked.

Buffy nodded, she could feel that she was almost back to her full strength.

"She's feisty isn't she?" Spiked said regarding Harmony. Buffy felt that she really did not want to talk about the new vampire.

"Yeah, the whole demon thing hasn't really helped her attitude problem." Spike laughed at her grumblings.

"Thank you, by the way." Buffy said sincerely, looking directly into Spike's intense blue eyes.

Spike looked away and Buffy almost thought she caught him blush a little. "Yeah well, don't go all 'Spike, you're my hero' on me. I just don't want anyone else 'sides me killing you, is all"

"You're a pig Spike. Leave me alone." Buffy said harshly, masking her true feelings before she stalked of out of the alleyway, with Spike sauntering off angrily in the direction Harmony had gone with a muttered, "As you wish."

Buffy wasn't sure whether Spike meeting up with Harmony would be a good thing or a bad thing. She could only hope that his intentions were to turn her to dust.

* * *

Buffy finally got back to her dorm room, Willow was already fast asleep.

Buffy lay on her bed. She closed her eyes, but all she could see was Harmony staring at Spike.

Buffy got up from bed. She took off her clothes. She washed a little. She changed into her yummy sushi pajamas. She slipped between her sheets, snuggled down, and closed her eyes.

Harmony was still staring at Spike!

Buffy threw back the sheets, opened the window. She went to the sink and poured herself a cup of water. She drank it down. She poured another cup and rolled its coolness across her flushed face. She felt feverish.

How was she feverish? She was the slayer; she should be healthy as a freaking horse. She dumped the water firmly into the sink and marched back to her bed. She closed her eyes.

Harmony would not stop staring at Spike! Actually she was more ogling Spike really.

_Why?_ Why would a woman who could have any man in the world, even when she was a _vampire,_ be interested in Spike? And there was simply no other way of explaining that look—she was interested. Buffy shut her eyes tight and studied the memory of her encounter with her former classmate. Clearly, something about the neutered vampire had interested her. Facts where Factual. But _what?_ Spike had eyes of the most vivid and beautiful blue, like the sea before a storm, but who cared about eyes? And his hair did look kinda cool bleached blonde, if you were into that sort of thing. And he was broad enough in the shoulders, but not as broad as half the guys Harmony had dated in high school. And certainly he was muscular, but he'd have to be, with all the fighting he does. And his skin was a lovely alabaster color, but all vampires were pale. He wasn't taller than most guys, but his stomach was flatter, but that was just another fight-y vampire-y thing.

Buffy sat up in bed. It must be his teeth! Spike definitely had good teeth, especially for a creature that drank blood, so kudos where kudos was due. They particularly looked nice with the rest of his face…

Could it have been anything else? Buffy concentrated. Some girls at the bronze followed him around when he was there, but they were mainly hormonal morons, they'd follow anyone around. And he ignored them, because if he had opened his mouth, they might have realized looks were all he had, he always said the most _stupid_ things.

It was really very strange that a woman as beautiful and slender and willowy and graceful, a vampire so perfectly packaged and as supremely dressed as Harmony should be hung up on teeth that way. Buffy shrugged. Harmony was vapid. But now she had it all diagnosed, deduced, and clear. She closed her eyes and snuggled down and got all nice and comfy-like, and _people/vampires do not look at other people/vampires the way that Harmony looked at Bleach Boy because of their teeth._

"Oh." Buffy gasped, "Oh, oh crap."

Now behind her eyes _Spike_ was staring back at _Harmony. _He was strolling towards her in a very Spike-like way, and his muscles were rippling as they always did under his shirt, and Buffy was standing there as her vampire looked, for the first time, deep into Harmony's eyes.

Buffy jumped out of bed and began to pace the room. How could he? Oh, it was alright for him to look at her, but he wasn't looking at her, he was _looking at her_ and she was still undressing him with her eyes.

"But she's such a bitch…" Buffy muttered, starting to storm a bit now. Harmony would never see thirty and that was a fact, but that didn't mean she was better than Buffy. She looked rotten the minute she stepped into the alleyway with her too big painted mouth and her painted little piggy eyes and her powdered skin and…and…and…

Flailing and thrashing like no one else could, Buffy wept and tossed and paced some more. There have been three great cases of jealousy in all of history, and the Slayer's case rated a close fourth on the all-time list.

It was a very long night filled with greenness.

* * *

Buffy found herself at his crypt in Restfield Cemetery just before dawn. Inside she could hear him up and moving around. She knocked before she lost her nerve and ran away, which wouldn't have been a very slayer-y thing to do. He appeared and stood in the door way looking at her in surprise. He waited. She looked at him. Then she looked away.

He was too beautiful.

"I love you," Buffy said. "I know this must come as something of a surprise, since all I've ever done is scorn you and degrade you and taunt you and kick your ass, but I have loved you for several hours now, and every second, more. I thought an hour ago that I loved you more than any woman has loved a man, but half an hour after that I knew what I felt before was nothing compared to what I felt then. But ten minutes after that, I understood that my previous love was puddle-y compared to the high seas before a storm. Your eyes are like that, did you know? Well, probably not seeing as you don't have a reflection and all…Well they are.

" How many minutes ago was I? Twenty? Had I brought my feelings up to then? It doesn't matter."Buffy could feel the heat of the rising sun at her back; she knew she had to be quick.

"I love you so much more now than I did twenty minutes ago that there cannot be comparison. I love you so much more now than when you opened your crypt door that there cannot be comparison. There is no room in my body for anything other than you and its freaking insane, I know, but my arms adore you, my eyes adore you, Buffy is all with the adoringness. Do you want me to crawl for the rest of my days? I'd do that for you. I'd do it for all the reasons I love you. Anything that I can do for you; I will do. Anything I can't do for you; I'll get someone to teach me to do. I know I can't exactly compete with Harmony in the looks department, and I saw the way she looked at you. And I saw the way you looked at her. But remember, please, that she is a stupid, spiteful bitch and has other interests, while for me there is only you, and slaying duties, but I don't really have much of a choice about that, do I? Dearest William—I never called you that before have I?—William, William, William, William—all I'm asking is that you give me a chance to win you love."

And with that she did the bravest thing she had ever done, braver than facing prophesized death, braver than killing her first love, braver then anything to do with slaying: she looked him right in the eyes.

He closed the door in her face.


	2. 2 Love and Apocalypse

**Part 2- 'Love and Apocalypse'**

**Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff. I asked Joss if he'd give me Spike for Christmas but he said no. what a jerk.**

**Warning: Character Death :(**

_AN: thank you to __**SparrowxLight**__, __**Fitz Darcy**__ and __**Bahjbc**__ for your reviews. Someone read my story *happy dance*. _

_To __**Kina Kalamari**__: I know it seems a bit OOC at the moment but Buffy is going through some major changes and in order for the plot to work I had to make her a bit Buttercup-ish. What always bugged me about Buttercup is that she is such a wuss and gives up on things too easily; so I will try to turn her into a kick ass co-hero as the story unfolds, but some concessions have to made to cater to TPB's plot._

_Anyway hope you enjoy my story, it's been fun to write._

**Chapter 2**

He closed the door in her face.

Without a word.

Without one word.

_What a jerk!_

Buffy ran. She whirled and burst away with Slayer speed, as a few tears came out bitterly. She couldn't see, and she slammed into a tombstone, fell, rose and ran on, this time with a steely determination that she wouldn't cry again.

_Why should I care if an evil, soulless vampire is rude to me and doesn't love me?_ Buffy thought, but she did.

Why did she even love him? She wasn't entirely sure and she figured she probably should've worked that out before she went beating down his door with her lame admission of love. But love wasn't logical, and she knew it.

Not even _one _word. He didn't even have the decency for that; not that she should have expected decency from a vampire in the first place.

"Sorry." He could have said, or, "Too late."

He could have said "I can't be with you because I'm eternally entwined with my psycho ex." Or, he could have just laughed at her.

There were millions of things he could have said, and as soon as he exercised his tongue it would have been over; she would know he didn't love her and she could work on slaying her unwanted feelings altogether. That would have been better than just leaving her hanging like that.

_At least this way_, she thought, _Giles, Willow, Xander and the gang will never have to know_. _That would have ended well_. _Not. Spike probably would have ended up a big-pile-o-dust._

This, coincidently, was what Buffy felt like at that moment.

* * *

It was dusk when she heard footsteps outside her door. She had successfully managed to play not-suffering-from-unrequited-love-Buffy all day and had finally thought she could be alone when a knock rudely interrupted her quiet wallowing.

"Who's there?"

"It's me." Said a familiar accented voice.

_Spike! Oh shit…_

Buffy went to the door, unlocked it, and said in the most indifferent tone she could muster, "I'm you glad you stopped by, well not glad 'cos you're a demon and all, but it's convenient really 'cos I've been feeling real bad about the little joke I played on you this morning." She was rambling but she hoped he wouldn't notice.

"I thought I'd made it pretty clear that I wasn't serious, but when you slammed your door in my face I thought that maybe I was a better actor than I thought I was. But you probably know what I said was majorly impossible anyway, so no hard feelings, right?"

"I've come to say goodbye. I'm leaving tonight." He said to her surprise.

"Leaving?" Buffy grabbed the doorframe a bit too forcefully causing cracks to appear. "Right now?"

"Yes."

"Oh god, I frightened you away, didn't I. I think my foot lives in my mouth. Well, you've made your decision; just remember that I would never want you after she's done with you. You're just a stupid Billy Idol wannabe with fangs anyway!" she said, feeling annoyed he had showed up to tell her this at all.

"I'm not running off with your bimbo classmate, pet." The vampire said gently, "The Magnificent Poof needs my help in L.A., kept yammering on about 'Champions' this and 'Apocalypse' that, y'know, the usual. He seemed pretty pissed about needing my help actually, you really think he'd get over this whole male posturing thing after 200 years…" He was babbling now, which she thought was really strange.

Y'know you really can be completely daft sometimes." He said, taking in her surprised features, "but that's one of the reasons I love you."

Buffy was shocked." You love me, do you?"

"Do I love you?" Spike rolled his eyes, "I don't exactly take to following girls I want to be 'just friends' with. At first I thought It was just a healthy obsession with slayers, and I could write it off as gathering information that would show me how to kill you. But then I started thinking that I'd much rather kiss you then kill you, and then it was only a matter of time before I couldn't stop thinking about you at all. Everywhere I turn, there you are. Every time I close my eyes, I dream about you. I'm bloody drowning in you Summers."

"If you're making fun of me, you'll be dust before you hit the floor." Buffy said, still a little surprised and uncertain.

"Bloody hell women! I love you. Okay? Want it louder? _I love you. _Do you want me to spell it out for you? I ell-oh-vee-ee why-oh-you. Want it backwards? You love I."

"You're making fun of me now; aren't you?"

"A little bit, yeah. But I've been sayin' it so often these past few weeks and you wouldn't listen. Every time you threatened to stake me and I called you a pain in the arse I was really sayin' 'I love you', you just didn't know it."

Buffy was smiling now, he loved her, a world of love, and that was pretty neat to say the least. "I'm sorry. I hear you now." Buffy said. They were the only words she could come up with to show that she believed him.

"So, you better brief me on this whole Angel gig, when does he expect us there?"

Spike looked startled, "Peaches sent for me specifically, you don't have to come."

"What, so, you want me to wait here and cross my fingers and hope the world doesn't end?" she challenged. "Highly doubtful."

Spike smirked, "I knew you'd give me the girl power bit... Grandsire said the end was quote, 'pretty frikkin nigh', so I s'pose would should be leaving as soon as possible."

Buffy nodded seriously.

"I'll just…go get the car while you pack." Spike added, lingering in the doorway awkwardly. He slowly turned from the door…

"Spike?"

"Yes?" he answered turning back with a child-like grin.

"There's one thing I have to do first." She said, looking into his eyes.

"What?"

"This." She said, bringing her lips to meet his, before they melted into each other's arms.

* * *

"So what's the what?" Buffy asked her vampire ex-lover once she and Spike finally made it to L.A. the next night. The drive over had been surprisingly nice for a drive in a car with blacked out windows, but she supposed that was because of the company of the vampire she was presently holding hands with under the table.

"Angel Investigations and Wolfram and hart are being terrorized by an entity called 'The First'. It is said to have been created by the first ever evil and is basically the essence of darkness. It can appear in the form of anybody who has died.

"Last year, if you remember Buffy, it tried to convince me to kill you and myself, but recently it has grown more ambitious, trying to raise an army of Turok-Han inside the hell mouth, and set them loose upon the world."

"Turok-what?" Buffy asked. It still kinda sounded like a run-of-the-mill apocalypse, but those could always get kinda unpredictable.

"Comparing a regular vamp to a Turok-Han is like comparing an angry puppy to Kujo." Spike answered, joining in the conversation.

"So... the plan is we're supposed destroy the army of Uber-vamps and stop the reign of hellfire?" Buffy asked, "Do we have any Uber-stakes?"

Spike chuckled, but Angel kept a serious face. "We have managed to uncover two weapons that should help us in defeating the First. The Scythe," he said, pulling a large glistening red and silver axe with wooden stake at the end of the handle from below his desk, "and this amulet." He gestured to a round crystal pendant in a silver starburst setting hung from a coarse silver chain.

"Well, call me crazy, but I think we should use the cool axe thing to save the world rather than some old necklace." Buffy said, eyeing the weaponry.

"Yeah I would agree Buffy, but the amulet has a cleansing power, I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it gives strength to the person who wears it, if it's the right person, that is. It has to be a demon, with the ability to love and fight on the side of good. But apparently that 'Champion' isn't me" he grumbled, with a hint of envy.

"Its Spike." Buffy answered automatically.

"How did you know?"

"Well, why else would you ask him for help? Besides, he's one of the Scoobies now, and he's pretty loveable in his own way, so I'm going to take an educated guess and say he's the Champion."

"Well, yeah, the Powers That Be are pretty sure about it." Angel replied, looking a bit hurt that Buffy had thought his grand-childe was better than him, "I just thought you'd be more surprised."

Spike dangled the pendant before him, "Not really my color, is it?"

"Spike you have to take this more seriously, everything is at stake here, no pun intended, and that amulet is _extremely_ unstable." Angel said trying to snatch it back from across the table.

"I know Peaches; it's the end of the world as we bloody know it." Spike teased, dodging his grandsire with ease, "But you seem to be a bit sore that you don't get to be the hero of the day. I didn't think your head could get any bigger, but I see I was sorely mistaken."

"I would never be jealous of you, Spike!" Angel shouted as he stood to glower at Spike.

"Oh yeah." Said Spike, cockily, rising to meet his rival, "I can think of a few things you want that I have. For example—"

"Spike! Angel!" Buffy exclaimed; jumping into the situation before it escalated to full frontal warfare. "Now is not the time. The world is coming to an end and you guys are fighting over whose got the biggest set of…fangs. That's really constructive." Besides, Buffy had a sneaking suspicion Spike would include her in the things-Angel-wants-that-Spike-has column and now was _not_ the time for that big reveal.

"Buffy's right." Angel said after calming down a bit, "We have to save the world."

"Let's blow the popsicle stand." Buffy said before grabbing a grabbing Spike and walking determinedly into the night, followed by Angel, ready to face anything the First had in store...

Angel's cry rang out across the empty L.A. streets, "Wait a second. Why are you holding hands?!"

"Whoops!" was all Buffy could say.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale, Agent Riley Finn stood at attention, awaiting his meeting with his commander.

He was ushered by two fellow operatives into a white, sterile room furnished with only a metal table and two chairs, in one of which Professor Walsh sat, regarding him in way which afforded him respect, whilst still being intimidating. Riley briefly thought of what his dad back in Iowa would think of his being intimidated by a woman.

"Sit." The professor said, gesturing to the empty chair, "I have called you in her to talk to you about your 'dalliance' with a girl at the college named Buffy Summers."

"Uh...Yes Ma'am. I did enter into a relationship with her briefly, but I think it's safe to say that relationship has ended, and I assure you that she won't be any threat to the Initiative. Not on my watch."

He didn't want to directly come out with the fact that the girl knew all about the Initiative and what they did, not so much out of concern for her safety, but because he didn't want to risk losing the best job he'd had in years.

"Am I correct in saying that you mentioned to some of your fellow agents that Miss Summers was... the Vampire Slayer?"

"Yes, I may have said that Ma'am, but surely that's just a myth. You don't really believe in this 'chosen one' crap do you? In my opinion she's just a tough girl with a vigilante complex."

Walsh sighed. "Your opinion, Agent Finn, doesn't matter. I know for a fact that this 'chosen one crap', as you so eloquently put it, is very real and Buffy Summers is indeed the Vampire Slayer, and I am extremely disappointed in you for not sharing any information you picked up on this slayer situation earlier."

"But I—"

"Your actions did not demonstrate the obedience and intelligence required in an Initiative agent, and It would probably be best for me to just discharge you now…"

"No!" Riley protested, "This job means the world to me. Just give me another chance."

"I suggest that if you wish to keep your position, Agent Finn, you re-enter your relationship with Miss Summers as soon as possible. She is our only Sunnydale connection to Angel Investigations, and she herself possesses attributes that could be harnessed and put to good use by the Initiative. I need you to get close to her, can you do that?"

"Yes Ma'am." Riley said with a steely determination reserved for a mission yet to be accomplished. "I won't let you down."

* * *

Buffy, Spike, Angel, Wesley, Fred and Gunn stood in the basement of an abandon building in south Los Angeles, the night air tingling with anticipation and dread. It was the calm before the storm, and everyone was hesitant to continue towards what they knew would be a battle for their lives.

Buffy decided that it was about time the gang stopped procrastinating. "So to get into the hell mouth where supposed to open the Seal of Dancer-something."

"The Seal of Danzalthar." Said Wesley, tightening his grip on Fred's hand.

"Uh-huh, and that would be this big star thing-y right?"

"Yep."

"Well then, ladies first." She said taking out a knife, before using it to cut her hand so that it bled, causing both vampires' nostrils to flair at the smell. She handed the knife to Spike who was next in line, having refused to leave her side.

Moments later, after everyone in the basement had copied Buffy's actions; they all held their bleeding hands over the seal, activating it.

Gasps of surprise emanated from the group as the seal began to move, shifting and bending and turning until it created a staircase down into the dark.

* * *

Buffy was the first to enter in the hell mouth below and was confronted by a dark cavern ending in a sheer and jagged cliff . She could hear faint growling noise coming from below the steep drop.

"Not to be a buzz kill, guys, but my fabulous accessory isn't exactly tingling with power." Said Spike, looking at the amulet with distaste as he entered the hell mouth.

"I'm not worried." Angel said, psyching himself up as he followed his grand childe, completing the team.

"Seriously, I'm getting zero juice from this thing, and I look like Elizabeth Taylor."

"Cheer up, old sport." Wesley jibed him, "If it doesn't work it won't matter what you're wearing."

"I'm not worried either." Buffy reassured him, gathering her resolve. "You're already a champion to me."

Spike smiled a small smile and the group made their way to precipice in battle formation, Buffy and Spike flanked by the Angel Investigations team.

"Okay, I'm starting to get a bit worried." Fred said as she took in the thousands upon thousands of oversized Turok-Han gathered on the floor of the hell mouth.

"I'm not worried." Said Angel for the second time, "That is, as long as the Powers That Be can work their magic before they… (the Turok-Han looked up at the gang on the edge of the cliff, their growling and snapping growing infinitely louder) see us."

* * *

Buffy and the gang had managed to fight off the army pretty well with a bit of scythe wielding and decapitation, as well as a whole lot of staking, but it still wasn't long before they began to be out-numbered.

Angel threw the scythe back to Buffy after fending off a vicious Ubervamp, allowing Buffy to dust the Turok-Han much quicker than before, but as they continued to fight the endless number of vampires that kept coming for them, the army was getting ever nearer to the stairs that lead out of the hell mouth, growing ever closer to escape.

Buffy was sure that they would not be able to keep all the hostiles contained, a part of her realizing that this was one battle they weren't going to win, when she noticed Spike looking at his amulet. Spike touched it and recoiled as if it had burned him before saying, "Buffy! whatever this thing does, I think it's—"he couldn't finish the sentence as he was wincing and moaning in pain.

"Keep the line together! Drive them to the edge! We can't let them do—"Buffy shouted to the group as she tried to make her way through the dust and bodies, over to Spike, before she looked down and realized she had been stabbed with a sword from behind by one of the countless Turok-Han, piercing her abdomen.

"Buffy!" Angel exclaimed, rushing to her side.

"Hold the line." She said, simply returning the scythe to him once again. Angel looked at her once more with love and concern before going back into battle, leaving Buffy on the floor, grunting in pain.

Amidst all the chaos and destruction a figure floated up to the Slayer, a figure that looked identical to her.

"Oh no…" NotBuffy said in mock horror, indicating Buffy's wound reflected on her own body, "This mortal wound is all…itchy. You pulled a nice trick. You came pretty close to smacking me down. What more do you want?"

For a moment, Buffy thought she was seeing things, until she remembered what Angel had said earlier; _"it can appear in the form of anybody who has died."_ And she had, so that could mean only one thing: it was The First.

"I want you…" Buffy replied at last, gritting her teeth as she stood up, "To get out of my face!"

Across the battlefield, Angel saw Buffy upright and breathed a sigh of relief before tossing her the Scythe. Buffy meant to use it to destroy the First, but she was gone, so she settled for dusting three Turok-Han at once, and smiled as she saw the rest of the team take out their fair share as well.

Buffy's attention was once again drawn from the battle by Spike as he gasped and clutched at his chest in amazement and pain.

"Oh, bollocks." Was all he said before a blue light shot straight up from the amulet, searing straight through the ceiling, perhaps reaching as far as the sky. The light turned a warm orange color.

"Buffy!"

"Spike!" she exclaimed, running to meet him, but before she could get to his side, the amulet refracted its heavenly glow out into the hell mouth like rays of sunshine—but with concentrated intensity like a laser. Buffy could only stare at Spike as the amulet worked its magic, turning the Turok-Han to dust before her.

The ground started shaking. "Everybody out now!" Angel screamed at his crew, already smoking from the extreme sunlight directed at the hell mouth. Buffy barely heard him and instead rushed to her love's side.

"I can feel it, Buffy." The bleached vampire said in awe.

"What?" she said in return.

He looked at her, all his passion and adoration for her pouring out in that one gaze. "My heart. It's really there. I kind of thought I'd lost it seeing how it doesn't beat and all. Stings a bit, though."

Buffy and Spike were the only ones left at the hell mouth, and all she could do was stand there and look at him, still holding the damn scythe.

"Go on, then." He said gently.

"No. No, you've done enough. You could still come with me." There was no way she was leaving him here, not after she'd finally realized how important he was to her.

"No, you've beat them back. Now it's time for me to do the cleanup."

The walls were crumbling around them. "Buffy, Come on!" she heard Gunn call from the stair well as her tears began to fall. She had sworn to herself that she would never cry for him only two nights before, but she couldn't help but break her promise to herself as she realized the life she could have had with Spike was being snatched away.

"Gotta move, lamb. I think it's fair to say the final act is gonna bring the house down." He said gazing at his surroundings and his sweetheart with wonder.

"Spike!"

"I mean it! I have to do this." She could tell he meant it. After all the drama of his un-life he was finally able to make a difference and finally prove to the world that he was somebody, that he was a hero. But she knew it would still break her heart.

Buffy laced her fingers with his and looked into to his eyes as they're hands burst into painless flames together, binding them at last.

"I love you." she said conveying how much she felt for him in those three words.

"I knew that, but thanks for saying it. I love you too."

Another earthquake rumbled through. "Go!" Spike told her, sending her up the stairs, "I wanna see how this ends."

* * *

Buffy took in the scene outside the abandoned building distractedly, still completely in shock.

She noticed Fred crying in Angel's arms and finally comprehended that Wesley was missing from the group. Realization sank in and she rushed to the woman's side, knowing exactly the loss and heart wrenching pain she was suffering. She knew how Fred's world would be crashing around her like her own, despite the averted apocalypse.

Wesley hadn't made it. And neither had Spike

* * *

_I know, I'm a bad, horrible person but TPB only really gets good after Westley dies, so it had to happen. I'm sorry!_

_It would be really nice to get some review, but no pressure guys, just thought you might want to in the christmas spirit and all. More scoobies in the next chap, and the plot takes a familiar turn.._

_Merry Christmas!_


	3. 3 A Very Wrong Engagement

**Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff…but you probably knew that already**

_AN: Thank you to __**Bahjbc **__for your continued support! Getting reviews makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside _

_A thousand apologies for leaving y'all hanging. I was in India for 3 weeks doing charity work and was seriously computer deprived but now I'm back and roaring to go._

_I will be following the plot of TPB a lot more closely from now on, well sort of. It was just hard to do the beginning what with all farms and horse riding and pirates…Also I was struggling to decide whether Dawn should be around, seeing as this is a very Scoobie centered adventure anyway, but it's been a year and technically she should be around, plus I always liked her, so she will be present and hopefully have some time to shine later on._

_Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter!_

**Part 3**

Wesley hadn't made it and neither had Spike, and a year later Buffy was still feeling the loss.

Spike had seemed so permanent, he had remained unchanged in the world for over 100 years, and now that he was gone it seemed to like there was always a space left where he should have been, an absent lewd comment, or an empty chair. She had loved him with her whole being, and in his last moments they had been joined so that now it felt like a piece of her soul was missing; he had taken it with him, but she would have wanted him to have it anyway, so that didn't really bother her.

What plagued her was that he had sacrificed himself for a world that had tormented him his entire existence, and nobody seemed to care. Well, except for her and Willow.

Willow was the only one who seemed to notice that she took the death of a Watcher she barely knew and a vampire she supposedly hated exceptionally hard, and during the course of an utterly tear-filled night Buffy confessed everything.

Buffy thought Willow took the news surprisingly well considering Spike had threatened her with her life on more than one occasion.

As for the others, well, Anya, Tara and Dawn barely knew him, whilst Xander seemed quietly pleased, which had driven an invisible wedge of misunderstanding between them. Giles got caught up in grieving for his fellow watcher and, the AI team, to Buffy's dismay, just viewed it as collateral damage.

Then there was Riley.

Riley, whom she was sure she had fallen out with only a few short weeks before her ill-fated relationship with Spike began, and who baffled her with his offer of friendship in her darkest hour.

At first she embraced the tentative closeness wholeheartedly, and when he told her of his secret life in the Initiative it only strengthened their bond. They were two people both called to a line of duty that meant they had to fight the supernatural things that others could choose to ignore and they were both often the only people standing between the world and its destruction.

Buffy was sure that she would always be able to rely on him for acceptance and understanding.

Every so often Riley would hint that he wanted something more but Buffy always tried to push those thoughts aside, knowing that it wouldn't be fair to be with someone you knew you would never love. But when Professor Walsh requested her help with Initiative operations, and to fight by Agent Finn's side, she accepted hoping that she could be there for him, even if not in the way he wanted.

This was the closest Buffy came to genuine happiness after the battle with The First, but it was only a matter of time before it all came crashing down.

To the Scoobies horror, Buffy found out that the Initiative were not so much interested in eradicating evil but harvesting it, not only did they capture demons for scientific experiments leading to Spike's chip but they used parts of these malicious creatures to create a monster capable of more destruction then any one demon she'd ever encountered, hoping to use it as a weapon.

The Scoobies and some of the Initiative soldiers were able to stop the part demon, part robot, part human Adam's rampage before he escaped and both Riley and the Professor survived, but in this moment they had changed from Buffy's friends to reminders that humans are capable of as much evil as any demon and she knew that she had to break-off her involvement with their disgusting operations as quickly as possible…

Unfortunately, they weren't going to let her get away that easily.

* * *

_**ONE MONTH PRIOR**_

Buffy stomped her feet in anger as she swiftly made her way home from the battle with Frankenstein's Reject, screaming profanities about how stupid she was to have trusted Riley in the first place.

She was wondering how on earth she was supposed to deal with monsters that weren't even actual _monsters_ when she was interrupted by the familiar sound of combats boots behind her. Before she could decide whether to confront the agent she found herself caught in a heavy net made of some abnormally strong metallic mesh, breathing in a sickly green gas smelling of chemicals that swiftly sent her into oblivion.

...

...

Buffy woke in a cold, white, sterile room in an uncomfortable, straight-backed metal chair with her hands and feet chained together. She tried her best to maneuver the manacles off her wrists only to feel the handcuffs shoot sharp metal blades into her flesh, slicing dangerously close to some of her vital arteries and causing her to grimace in pain.

"Feel free to try that again if you want. You'd be a lot easier to deal with dead." Said the cool and unemotional voice of Professor Walsh from a speaker box above the slayer's head.

"Why don't you just kill me yourself, Maggie." Buffy asked incredulously wondering whether this was the front end of some cruel torture session, or if she was going become a lab rat in one of their sadistic experiments.

"You're too valuable to simply dispose of if we can help it. Your knowledge and powers are unique would be of great help to our cause." The Professor replied, her voice unwavering

"Thanks but I'm not interested." Buffy replied, her words dripping with vitriol

"You've made that quite clear Miss Summers, but we can't let you go just to have you try and bring us down. It's time for you to choose a side, and it would be safest for those you love if you choose ours."

"My friends! What have you done to them?!" the Slayer cried.

No answer. Instead the previously blank wall in front of her came to life with images she dreaded to see. Willow, Xander, Giles, Tara, Anya, her mother and her baby sister slept peacefully on the screen oblivious of the Initiative's surveillance, and she could scarcely bare to imagine what awaited them in the night.

"Our snipers are highly-skilled Miss Summers. Prove your loyalty to the Initiative or they will die."

"Fine. I'll join the Initiative, I'll fight with you, but don't you dare hurt my friends!" The Slayer yelled at the still flickering screen.

"That's not enough; you'll have to make a commitment to us, a contract that will bind you to our soldiers as long as you live."

"Anything." Buffy sighed with resignation, it was going to be an awful fate, being forced to fight alongside her enemies her whole life, but she couldn't stand to lose another person she loved, not even Xander who she had scarcely talked to in the last few months.

But she still wasn't prepared for what they had in store... because it was Riley, her former-friend's voice that echoed through the tiny room next, saying simply and forcefully, "Marry me."

* * *

Buffy stared at the malevolently beautiful diamond engagement ring that represented both her sentence and her friends' lifeline. It was a token of her betrothal but also a high-tech tracking device that shot a spike tipped with a poison that would cause her to have a violent seizure and die, into her blood stream if she attempted to remove it. For a whole month now, Buffy had had to act as if she was desperately in love with a man she resented in order to fulfill Walsh's orders that they make the marriage 'look realistic' in order to prevent her from taking action.

For a month she had to feed her friends lies, telling them that she and Riley had kept their true relationship secret from the gang because they had all been dealing with so much. How the creation of Adam was accidental and how Buffy thought it would still be best to work with the Initiative as an agent, especially if one of its soldiers was going to be her husband. And worst of all Buffy told Willow that Riley had helped to fill the void inside her that Spike had left when he died again, when in reality it had only ripped her further apart.

For one month she had watched her as her friends and family celebrated 'Buffy and Riley's Happily Ever After' and the slayer was sick of it. It was thing to have to marry a man you'll never love, but another thing entirely to have to play happy houses with him.

Buffy grabbed her coat and headed towards the door, before turning to her betrothed who was really more like a prison warden, monitoring her every move and keeping a watchful eye for any signs of rebellion towards Walsh's regime. She had never thought that she could truly hate Riley, but his cooperation with the Professor's plot so that he could rank up, was beyond selfish and lacked any sense of the compassion he had falsely shown her during their friendship.

"Its 23:14 and Agent Summers is heading out for patrol." Buffy said with distaste as she left her house she now shared with Riley. Not only did she have to log her hours fighting evil, but when she returned she would have to fill out paperwork on just exactly what she fought, and where, when and how she killed it. God, did she hate paperwork.

"Be careful Princess." Agent Finn replied with a smirk. He knew she hated when he called her that, but she couldn't do anything in reply; it was make nice, or your friends disappear.

Walking quickly through the inky blackness to the cemetery, Buffy knew that there would be some high-and-mighty operative watching her from the distance and started to try and work out where they would be hiding. At times like these she often thought how easy it would be to take them out and run away into the sunset, but she knew she could never leave her family behind to be executed.

Even if she managed to escape with all the Scoobies in tow, where would they go? Any where they went the initiative would hunt them down, and that was not the kind of life she wanted for her loved ones. It was better to let them live a happy lie, rather than run in fear from the truth.

At least as long as her oppressors didn't expect her to have kids with Riley; there she would have to draw the line…

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by the screams of a terrified dark-haired young man running towards her from behind a crypt.

"Help!" he cried, "There's a man coming after me! I think he is trying to kill me and...And…there's something wrong with his face!!"

Immediately Buffy went into slayer mode, grabbing the boy and telling him to run, but he only stood firmly by her side.

Buffy had no time to get the scared stranger moving though, because mere seconds later a powerful, Hispanic vampire with a mane of wavy black hair jumped from the roof of the crypt and landed gracefully in front of her, before pulling out a humongous sword.

"Someone's over-compensating for something." Buffy teased before throwing herself into the battle.

Around and around they went, jumping across tombstones and tumbling along the ground with superb technique and agility, as the Slayer blocked the master vampire's blade with her sturdy stake. She was holding her own very well but she found herself having to continually back up to escape the slashing of the cutlass and she realized that she was swiftly losing the upper hand.

Buffy was slowly but surely being forced towards the ominous entrance to the crypt that both the victim and the predator had emerged from. Buffy decided with a steely determination that if they both entered that crypt, only one would survive. But, as she concentrated on blocking the vampire's deadly blows she was unprepared for the sharp blow to her head that came from behind her.

_Gosh, this is really not a good month for my consciousness,_ she thought, as her world went spinning once again into blackness. It was a trap.

* * *

Buffy was stirred an unknown amount of time later by the ramblings of voices raised in argument. "How hard did you freaking hit her, you cretin? She should have woken up by now!" snapped the voice of the young man she had tried to save in the graveyard earlier that night.

"I didn't mean to hit her so hard!" Whined and almost unintelligible, low, grumbling voice that was definitely inhuman, "I guesses I don't know me own strength."

"Well that's great but she's not really worth anything to us if she dies here, is she?!" Said the boy, who seemed to be the leader.

"No Master Warren." Replied the beast. Buffy groaned, her head-ached and she was chained at the wrists and ankles in the back of some kind of van with blacked out windows with possibly the most annoying captors in the world, one of which appeared to be a grotesque Fyarl demon.

She did not know who was driving the vehicle but she would bet her right foot that it was the swordsman vampire she had encountered in front of the crypt

"Ah, the Slayer Bride awakens. How're you feeling, sweetheart?" Warren said belittlingly. Buffy chose to ignore his question; she was defintely not in the mood for games.

"What do you want from me?" She asked, trying to keep the discomfort out of her voice.

"We don't want anything from you." Warren said with a sneer, "Somebody somewhere wants you to be a corpse in LA, and we've been hired to do the dirty work. You're a very special girl Miss Summers."

"Who hired you morons?" Buffy asked straight away.

"We're not at liberty to say."

"Why do I have to die in LA?"

"That's for us to know, and you to never find out. You ask _way_ too many questions!" The obviously short-tempered Warren retorted before tying a gag harshly over the Slayers still-moving mouth.

There was silence in the van as the head assassin collected himself before the demon minion asked, "What now, Master Warren?"

"We gotta buy ourselves some more time before the soldiers boys show up. We need to remove the tracker." Warren replied in a business-like fashion.

"But I thought you said you couldn't take it off without killings her now." Sad the demon

"I know what I said; I am an evil genius for god's sake." He replied impatiently and coldly, before a pulling a long glinting object from behind him, "The poison will only be released if you try to take the ring off her finger..."

The gag barely muffled Buffy's scream when in one fell, violent swoop, Warren used the vampire's sword to cut through the third finger on her left hand.

TBC

* * *

_Next chapter will be up in the next day or two, but im also thinking about starting a fic based Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games. Thank you for reading! _


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